# Snapping turtle ... I'm attempting



## JPH (Jun 30, 2006)

*OK so I do a lot of fishing mostly standard, but also fly.....

In the summer I go to a lake called West Branch an hour or so out of cleveland... I fish for Northern Pike there a lot..... 1/3 of the time trying for these mammoths I pull out huge cat's, which I keep sometimes, and also snapping turtles, which I usually cringe like a girl than net it and pull it to shore... remove my hook and release it.. (I'm not big on leaving the hook in)...

Well over Easter my granpa (Who I fish with sometimes) tells me he has a great recipe for snaping turtles and if I figure out how the hell to clean them he will prepare it for us.....I did a little research and below is what I found...

*

_Get a pair of long handle pliers... make them bite on to it.

Flip them on their back, half hanging off a log to get their neck to come out then wack with a hatchet. DO NOT MESS WITH HEAD EVEN THOUGH IT IS CUT OFF!!!!!! IT WILL STILL BITE!!

Hang that bad boy upside down by his tail. let the blood drain then tie his neck up so the hole is closed.

Make a small slit in the back leg to get your air compressor hose or water hose with spayer nosel then spray till he blows up like a balloon. This will help with getting the skin away from the meat a little...

now start at the base of the top shell by his tail. Cut all the way around(you can go through the shell where they come together it is mainly cartilage).

once done with that cut around the leg sockets of the bottom shell. This should remove the bottom shell.

Skin the legs and tails back and cut off feet and end of tail.

once this is done cut up the bottom of the top shell. the object here is to get the legs neck and tail out.

Pull all the guts and what not out there.

Look at the top shell you will see a little rib cage looking thing. get a pair of wire snips and cut them where they connect to the shell and in the middle. once you cut them take a fillet knife and fillet it out of there much like getting a deer tenderlion. this is the best part if you ask me.

now just debone all the meat or leave some on the bone to throw in a stew for flavor or what have you. it is up to you how you want to go from there. I usually debone and then fry up some when i do some fish.

_

*Anyone ever attempted this?... or have a better way?*


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## volfan (Jul 15, 2006)

I have not attempted cleaning one but where I live there are a lot of people that will tell you about the 7 different flavors from the different parts of a snapping turtle. All of it that I have eaten has been great. I am in New Orleans right now and they have it on the menu (turtle soup) at almost any french inspired restaurant.

scottie


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## burninator (Jul 11, 2006)

Man, that is one nasty looking son of a gun. I can't imagine wanting to eat it.


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## mosesbotbol (Sep 21, 2005)

Ask your local chinese restaraunt how to do it. Turtle is quite popular in China. I know in my area if I bring them good sized fish I catch, they will cook it for free if they can have half of it. Same with the sushi places.


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## Ermo (Jun 3, 2006)

I love fishing and cleaning fish and cooking them, but that sounds crazy!!

I'm too much of a sissy, I'd feel like sh*t if I cut his head off. But I can kill a fish??? Go figure.


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## SteveDMatt (Feb 23, 2007)

I have no problem cleaning fish, crabs, and other sea creatures. I also helpped butcher chickens when I was younger, but am not sure I could do that now.

But a turtle? I have seen snappers in my area. And damn, they are mean. We used to wave sticks at them when we were younger and watch them grab on. I just don't know if I could get through the cutting the shell off part.

I think I would leave this to the restaurants. Actually, they probably get the meat once it has been removed.


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## Habanolover (Feb 22, 2006)

Turtle Stew Mmm-mmm good.
We always use a large nail and hammer. Pull his head out over a 2x4 or something and drive the nail through his skull into the wood. Then wait till he is dead and cut the head off. The only meat we eat off of a turtle is the leg meat (the rest is very strong flavored). Keep in mind that you will need a few single edge razor blades to get thru the skin.
Then you cut the meat into small chunks and boil it.
Make a stew using milk,canned milk,butter, onions,potatoes and plenty of pepper and anything else you like in your stews. Cook thoroughly until done and enjoy. No the meat does not taste like 7 different meats but it does have a unique and wonderful flavor.


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## davemo (Mar 25, 2007)

madurolover said:


> ...The only meat we eat off of a turtle is the leg meat (the rest is very strong flavored)...


When you say "strong flavor" is that a bad flavor, does it just mean you could use very little of it to get a good taste?

I might be a wuss, but I've never been hunting, and only ever caught one fish (too small to keep and I haven't been fishing in years), so I've never had to clean anything; I gotta say, doing all that would probably gross me out quite a bit.


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## dstaccone (Oct 19, 2006)

I have been trying to catch a snapping turtle for a while now. My grandfather said to clean them he always chopped the head off or shot them with a .22 in the head. then he cut of the legs and skinned them and then boiled the meat to make a soup or stew. Good luck and let us know how it works out for you.


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## Silhanek (Oct 23, 2006)

I've eaten snapping turtle before, but never did any cleaning of them. I'll email your directions to my dad and have him look them over to see if it makes sense. I don't remember my dad doing the blood draining and air compressor steps.

All I know is you go in from the belly side and chop out the shell from the bottom. Once you get that open, you just scrape things out somehow.


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## Zira (Feb 3, 2007)

Are you going to make a hat out of the shell ? 

:cb lol


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## Habanolover (Feb 22, 2006)

davemo said:


> When you say "strong flavor" is that a bad flavor, does it just mean you could use very little of it to get a good taste?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Habanolover (Feb 22, 2006)

dstaccone said:


> I have been trying to catch a snapping turtle for a while now. My grandfather said to clean them he always chopped the head off or shot them with a .22 in the head. then he cut of the legs and skinned them and then boiled the meat to make a soup or stew. Good luck and let us know how it works out for you.


Find a pond that has them.
Take about 100 pound test of nylon line and tie a #04 hook to it with a brick about 2 foot from that. Make sure that the entire line is long enough to tie it to a branch or something on the bank. You dont want it to be too long or else your turtle will get wrapped around stuff under thew water.
For bait get a hoppy toad and make a cut across his throat (the part that swells up when he is croaking). Insert the hook in his throat going downward toward the stomach. It does not matter if the point comes back out or not. Toss the brick end into the water so that your bait sinks (make sure you have enough line to get it to the bottom) and make sure you have the other end tied off before tossing.
Check after approximatly 12-18 hours by pulling the line in. You don't want to leave it in there for too long because after a while the turtle will drown and your meat will ruin.

Good Luck:tu


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## TU09 (Mar 26, 2006)

Please, let us know how your turtle cooking endeavors turn out. I'd like to give it a try myself...

We used to catch the things all the time in my mother's pond but always gave them away or released them; mostly giving them to people who ate turtles after they killed several very expensive grass carp that require the purchase of a license of sorts in VA. :tg


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## ragin' cajun (Mar 12, 2007)

JPH said:


> _Get a pair of long handle pliers... make them bite on to it. _
> 
> _Flip them on their back, half hanging off a log to get their neck to come out then wack with a hatchet. DO NOT MESS WITH HEAD EVEN THOUGH IT IS CUT OFF!!!!!! IT WILL STILL BITE!! _
> 
> ...


Yeah buddy! Ya making me feel like was back at home in Naw'lins. The instructions that you found work really well. Thats pretty much the same way I've done it since I was a kid. The only thing is you might wanna use a piece of 2x4 instead of pliers, their usually not long enough to not worry about your fingers. Someone mentioned the 7 tastes of turtle, yeah turtles have different tastes to them, but it depends on how you cook them and more importantly how old the turtle is. The turtles age dictates how tough the meat is, which many, many, many people misinterpret for taste. But hey if your grandaddy is gonna do the cooking why complain. Just do us a favor and snap some pics when you finally catch it.


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## mosesbotbol (Sep 21, 2005)

I am not much for cleaning dead animals, but this does sure sound tasty. Good luck and post a "post meal" summary.


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## opus (Jun 21, 2005)

Turtle soup is one of my favorites. I have cleaned, field dressed and butchered, or assisted with the process on just about anything imaginable. Been a long time, but I don't recall it being a big deal to clean a turtle. We either whacked off or shot the head, then cut and smash the bottom of the shell to get at the meat. For soup it really doesn't matter where the meat comes from. Older turtles can be extremely tough though.

Interestingly, the part about the seven different meats, they say the same about aligators here in Florida, one of the few things I have not cleaned. This is making me hungry, I wish I had a big bowl of snapper turtle soup.


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## JPH (Jun 30, 2006)

Zira said:


> Are you going to make a hat out of the shell ?
> 
> :cb lol


Ashtray actualy


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